Bulgaria's Kozloduy nuclear power plant will reduce output from one of its reactors as the Danube River level continues to fall amid an unprecedented drought, Bulgarian News Agency BTA reported Thursday.

The energy ministry said it would "preventively lower the output of Kozloduy's Unit 5 by some 120 MW on August 21" to ensure the plant's safe operation.

Unit 5 has a generating capacity of just over 1,000 MW.

It is the first time in the plant's 52-year history that extreme weather conditions have forced it to reduce output, the report underlined.

The ministry said the Danube was forecast to continue receding in the Bulgarian section of the river.

Kozloduy uses Danube water to cool steam in condensers in the non-nuclear part of the plant. The river is not used to cool nuclear reactors.

Water is supplied through the plant's shore-based pumping station, which was designed to maintain the necessary supply even when river levels are low.

A crisis management working group was established at Kozloduy in early June as water levels began to fall and forecasts indicated prolonged drought across western and central Europe.

The plant has continued operating normally and supporting the national and regional energy system, said the ministry, while several nuclear plants along the Danube have reduced output or shut down.

Hungary's Paks nuclear plant reduced production to critically low levels earlier this month as the Danube reached record lows.

In Romania, Unit 1 of the Cernavoda nuclear plant was shut down at the end of July, while a nationwide state of heightened alert was declared in the energy sector for August.